Die for press-molding optical elements and methods of manufacturing and using the same

Abstract: A die for press-molding glass optical elements which can press-mold glass optical elements having high melting points and various shapes repeatedly, which includes a base material (13) having high strength on which a cutting layer (12) having heat resistance and free cutting machinability is formed. After cutting the cutting layer (12) into the desired shape with high accuracy, the die is coated with a surface protective film (11) of an alloy. The cutting layer (12) comprises a Si-alloy film.

Description: This invention relates to a die used for the press-molding process of glass optical elements and to methods of manufacturing the die, and using the same. In order to press-mold glass optical elements having high accuracy repeatedly by means of a die, it is necessary to use a die material which is stable at high temperatures, has excellent resistance to oxidation, and is inert with respect to glass. In addition, the material must have excellent mechanical strength so that the surface accuracy is maintained when pressed. On the other hand, the material must have excellent machinability so as to be machined precisely and easily. It is disclosed that die materials which meet these requirements to some degree are a mixed material consisting of titanium carbide (TiC) and metal JP-A-59-121126 or a material comprising a base material of cemented carbide on which a precious metal film is formed (JP-A-62-96331). However, the conventional materials of the die do not meet the above-mentioned requirements completely. For example, the material of the die using a mixed material of TiC and metal has excellent mechanical strength, but is poor in machinability due to its extreme hardness. Thus, it is difficult to machine with high accuracy. In addition, this material has a further defect in that it easily reacts to lead (Pb) or an alkaline element contained in glass optical elements When a material comprises a base material of cemented carbide on which a precious metal film is formed, a diamond wheel is used to machine the cemented carbide. At this time, it is difficult to form a fine shape due to wear of the diamond wheel. Therefore, a special processing device is needed. Furthermore. there are problems that the process take a long time and that the die is extremely expensive. A further problem is that a diamond tool used for cutting the hard base material is worn down during the process. Therefore, it is impossible to proceed with the cutting, and a shape having a small radius of curvature which can not be attained by a grinding process can not be fabricated. The following method of manufacturing a die has proposed a solution to the above-noted problems (JP-A-62-3031). A base material used here has excellent heat resistance, heat shock resistance, and strength at high temperatures. A fine cutting layer comprising a material which can be ground and cut excellently and is chemically stable and having a high melting point, for example, Pt-alloy film, is formed on the base material. After this layer is formed into a desired surface through a fine machining process, the mold surface is coated with a Pt-alloy film for protection. JP-A-3-23230 discloses a die and a method of manufacturing a die comprising the features defining the preamble of claims 1 and 3. However, using the above-noted manufacturing methods, the film formed as a cutting layer did not have sufficient strength so that the die was deformed when press-molded. Therefore, it was actually impossible to mold at high temperatures of 650°C and higher. It is an object of this invention to solve the above-noted problems by providing a die for press-molding glass optical elements having high melting points or temperatures and various shapes repeatedly. This was not possible with conventional grinding methods. In order to accomplish these and other objects and advantages, a die for press-molding glass optical elements in the invention comprises a base material having heat resistance and sufficient strength to withstand the press-molding process of glass optical elements, and a cutting layer formed on said base material comprising an alloy film containing silicon (Si). The cutting layer is covered with an alloy film which includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, palladium (Pd), iridium (Ir), rhodium (Rh), osmium (Os), ruthenium (Ru), rhenium (Re), tungsten (W), and tantalum (Ta). It is preferable in this embodiment that an intermediate layer comprising at least one film selected from the group consisting of metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide is present between the base material and the cutting layer. Furthermore, it is preferable in this embodiment that the alloy film containing Si be a Si-alloy film containing 20 to 80 at % of one metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Cu, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, and Ir. The method of manufacturing a die for press-molding in a second embodiment of this invention comprises forming a base material having heat resistance and sufficient strength to withstand the press-molding process of glass optical elements into a shape similar to a desired shape of the die, forming a cutting layer on said base material comprising an alloy film containing Si, and an amorphous film by means of at least one method selected from the group consisting of a plating method, an evaporation method, a sputtering method, and an ion plating method, and covering the cutting layer with an alloy film which includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W, and Ta. It is preferable that this embodiment further comprises forming an intermediate layer comprising at least one film selected from the group consisting of metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide between the base material and the cutting layer by means of at least one method selected from the group consisting of a plating method, an evaporation method, a sputtering method, an ion plating method, and a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. Furthermore, it is preferable in this embodiment that when the alloy film containing Si is present, it is a Si-alloy film containing 20 to 80 at % of a metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Cu, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, and Ir. The inventive method of press-molding glass optical elements with a die is used for press-molding glass optical elements at a temperature of 650°C and higher. After the cutting layer is cut with high surface accuracy, an alloy film containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W, and Ta is formed as a protective film on the cutting layer. In this way, a die is provided which can be used to press-mold glass optical elements having high melting points or temperatures various shapes. By press-molding an optical glass at the temperature of 650°C and higher repeatedly, a large quantity of glass optical elements having high melting points and various shapes at a low cost can be produced which was impossible using conventional methods. Furthermore, by forming an intermediate layer between the base material and the cutting layer comprising at least one film made from a material selected from the group consisting of metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide, it is possible to prevent the cutting layer from peeling, and it improves the durability of the die. A die for press-molding glass optical elements which is manufactured according to the above-noted method, has sufficient strength to withstand the press-molding process by using a base material having excellent heat resistance and strength. This invention enables the die to be cut into a desired shape easily with high accuracy by forming a cutting layer which comprises a Si-alloy film containing 20 to 80 at % of one metal selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ni, Co, Fe, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, and Ir. In addition, this die also attains the heat resistance and the strength at high temperatures which can stand the press-molding process of glass at a temperature of 650 °C and higher. The die also prevents itself from welding with the glass by forming an alloy film containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W, and Ta as a surface protective film. As a result, this invention enables production of a press-molding die for glass having a high melting point and various shapes. By press-molding the glass using the die of this invention, it enables production of a large quantity of glass optical elements having high melting points and various shapes at a low cost which was impossible by the conventional grinding process. Furthermore, by forming an intermediate layer Comprising at least one film made of a material selected from the group consisting of metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide, the adhesive strength between the base material and the cutting layer improves, and this prevents the film from peeling. Thus, it enables improved durability of the die. FIG. 1 is an outline view of a press-molding machine used in one embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of this invention showing a die for press-molding glass optical elements. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of this invention showing a press-molding die for glass optical elements. This invention is specifically described by referring to the following illustrative examples and attached figures. Example 1 A molding die of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the molding die of this embodiment comprises a base material of cemented carbide 53 on top of which a cutting layer 52 is formed into a desired shape with high accuracy. Furthermore, an alloy protective layer 51 is formed on cutting layer 52 for protection. A manufacturing method of the molding die shown in FIG. 2 is described as follows. First of all, base material of cemented carbide 53 is processed into the shape similar to the desired shape by means of electrical discharge machining. Then, cutting layer 52 is formed by a sputtering method on top of the base material 53 which is roughly processed by the electrical discharge machining. After that, the cutting layer 52 is cut using a diamond tool, forming the cutting layer 52 into a desired shape with high accuracy. When this method is explained in detail by providing specific values, base material of cemented carbide 53 is a cemented carbide material mainly comprising tungsten carbide (WC) of 6 mm diameter and 10 mm thickness which is roughly processed by electrical discharge machining into upper and lower dies having hollow-shaped press surfaces of 1 mm radius of curvature. Cutting layer 52 is formed on top of the roughly processed die with a thickness of about 15 µm. By cutting precisely the cutting layer 52, a hollow-shaped die of 1 mm radius of curvature was obtained with high accuracy which was difficult to attain with a conventional grinding process. In addition, this method required only 1/10 of the time needed for a conventional grinding process. In order to conduct the press-molding process by using the die of FIG. 2, this molding die is disposed in a press-molding machine shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1. reference numeral 21 denotes a fixing block for an upper die; 22, a heater for the upper de; 23, the upper die; 24, a glass material; 25, a lower die; 26, a heater for the lower die; 27, a fixing block for the lower die; 28, a cover ; 29, a body for the die; 210, a plunger; 211, a positioning sensor; 212, a stopper. Then, dense barium crown glass (SK-12) 24 manufactured by SUMITA OPTICAL GLASS, INC. which was processed into a spherical shape having a radius of 1 mm is placed on lower die 25, and upper die 23 is placed on the top. In this condition, the temperature was raised to 650°C, and the pressure was kept at about 40kg/cm 2 in a nitrogen atmosphere for two minutes. After that, the temperature was lowered to 550°C in this condition, and the pressure was then released. After it was cooled to room temperature, the molded glass lens was taken out, and the press-molding process of the glass optical element was completed. After repeating this press-molding process 10.000 times, upper and lower dies 23, 25 were removed from the press-molding machine, and the condition of the press surfaces were observed with an optical microscope. At the same time, the surface roughness (root mean square (RMS) value, nm) of the press surface was measured, and the accuracy of each die was evaluated. The results are shown in Table 1 (a) and (b). In Table 1, "surface condition" refers to the observed results of the optical microscope. The units for surface roughness used in Table 1 are is all nm. The cutting layer used in this embodiment is a Si binary alloy layer. In particular, it is possible to use Si binary alloys for the cutting layer, for example, Si-Ni, Si-Co, Si-Fe, Si-Si, Si-Ti, Si-Zr, Si-Nb, Si-Mo, Si-Ru, Si-Rh, Si-Pd, Si-Hf, Si-Ta, Si-W, Si-Re, and Si-Os. In order to form these binary alloy films, a Si chip having a size of 10 mm × 10 mm × 1 mm is arranged equally on disk targets of Ni, Co, Fe, Si, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Hf, Ta, W, Re or Os having a diameter of 15 cm (6 inches). These are used as the target material in the sputtering process. By changing the number of the Si chip arranged on the disk targets, it is possible to control the composition of Si binary alloys being formed. A Pt-Rh alloy protective layer was formed with a thickness of 3 µm on the cutting layer by the sputtering method. The thickness of the cutting layer consisting of Si binary alloys was determined to be about 15 µm. Referring to FIG. 2, reference numeral 51 denotes a Pt-Pd alloy protective layer covering the press surface; 52, a Si-Ta alloy cutting film; 53, a base material of cemented carbide. These dies are placed in the press-molding machine shown in FIG. 1. Then, dense barium crown glass (SK-12) 24 which was processed into a spherical shape with a radius of 1 mm was press-molded. The results are shown in Table 1 (a) and (b). The percentage content of Si in the composition was controlled within the range of 20 to 80 at %. This is due to the fact that a diamond tool is worn when cut with a Si content of less than 20 at %, while the shape is deformed when pressed with a Si content of more than 80 at % due to hardness deterioration. As described above, the percentage content of Si in the cutting layer was changed by controlling the number of the Si chips arranged on the disk targets. Furthermore, a comparative experiment was conducted. A Ni-P plated film was formed as the cutting layer on the base material of cemented carbide by the electroless plating method, and the Pt-Pd alloy film was used as a protective layer to form the die. The press-molding process took place repeatedly under exactly the same press-molding conditions. The results of this experiment are shown in Table 2. Results of Comparative Experiment Sample No. Type of die Surface roughness before pressing (RMS, nm) After pressing 100 times Surface roughness (RMS, nm) Surface condition 142 Ni-P plated film 1.03 5.96 Enlarged crack When the die used in comparative Sample No. 142 was molded, the glass did not adhere to this die, but the plated layer began to crack after press-molded several times. After press-molding 100 times, the crack on the plated surface enlarged. The die did not stand any more use because the crack was transcribed on the lens, thereby deteriorating the quality of the lens. This is due to the fact that Ni-P plated film which was used as the cutting layer has not sufficient heat resistance to withstand the heat cycle of the press-molding process when the glass having a high melting point is press-molded repeatedly. On the other hand, according to the dies of this invention shown in Sample Nos. 143 to No. 188, the dies did not crack even after press-molded 10,000 times and the surface condition remained almost the same. The surface roughness has hardly changed. It shows that these dies can press-mold glass having a high melting point, such as SK-12. As a result, by press-molding glass by means of the press-molding of this invention, it is possible to press-mold a large quantity of glass optical elements having high melting points and shapes which are difficult to attain by a grinding process. Accordingly, all the requirements which are necessary to directly press-mold the above-mentioned glass optical elements with high accuracy were met. It enabled to press-mold a large quantity of glass optical elements having high melting points and shapes which were impossible to be molded in the past. Cemented carbide consisting mainly of WC was used as the base material of the die for press-molding in this embodiment. It goes without saying that any other material can be used to attain the same results that has heat resistance and sufficient strength to withstand the press-molding process of optical glass. However, it is preferable to use cemented carbide consisting mainly of WC, cermet mainly consisting of TiN or TiC, or WC sintered compact. As far as the protective layer is concerned, Pt-Pd was used in this embodiment, but the same results could be attained by using an alloy film of precious metal which includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W and Ta. Example 2 A die for press-molding in this embodiment has an intermediate layer on the surface on which an alloy cutting layer and a protective layer are formed. The dimensions of the die are the same as in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, it is possible to use, for example, films of Ni, SiC, TiN, and Ta 2 O 5 . In practice, an intermediate layer can be used when it is formed with a thickness of about 1 µm by the sputtering method and so forth. As for the cutting layer, it is possible to use, for example, an alloy film of Si-Zr. This cutting layer is applicable when it is formed with a thickness of 15 µm by the sputtering method. The alloy cutting layer can be cut into a surface with extreme accuracy with use of a diamond tool. By cutting the alloy film in this way, a hollow-shaped die of 1 mm radius of curvature could be obtained with extreme accuracy which was difficult to attain in a conventional grinding process. In addition, this method required only 1/10 of the time needed for the conventional grinding process. A Pt-Ta alloy protective layer was formed with a thickness of 3 µm on the cutting layer by the sputtering method. A cross-sectional view of a die for press-molding produced in this way is shown in FIG. 3 in which a SiC film is used for the intermediate layer and a Si-Zr alloy film for the cutting layer. Referring to FIG. 3, reference numeral 71 denotes a Pt-Ta alloy protective layer covering the press surface; 72, a Si-Zr alloy cutting film; 73, a SiC film; and 74, a base material of cemented carbide. This die was used to press-mold dense barium crown glass (SK-12) 24 which was processed into a spherical shape having a radius of 1 mm under the same conditions as in the first embodiment. After repeating this press-molding process 10,000 times, 30,000 times, and 50,000 times, upper and lower dies 23, 25 were removed from the press-molding machine, and the condition of the pressed surfaces was observed with an optical microscope. At the same time, the surface roughness (RMS value, nm) of the pressed surface was measured, and the accuracy of each die was evaluated. The results are shown in Table 3. Results of Press Experiment Sample No. Type of die intermediate layer Surface roughness before pressing (RMS,nm) Surface condition after pressing 10,000 times (RMS,nm) 30,000 times (RMS,nm) 50,000 times (RMS,nm) 266 Si-Zr Ni 1.04 1.05 1.07 1.10 267 Si-Zr SiC 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 268 Si-Zr TiN 1.05 1.05 1.06 1.08 269 Si-Zr Ta2O5 1.05 1.06 1.08 1.09 As a comparative experiment, a Ni-P plated film was formed as the cutting layer on a base material of cemented carbide by the electroless plating method, and Pt-Ta alloy film was used as a protective layer to form the die. The same press-molding process took place, and the accuracy of each die was evaluated. The results are shown in Table 4. Results of Comparative Experiment Sample No. Type of die Surface roughness before pressing (RMS, nm) After pressing 100 times Surface roughness (RMS, nm) Surface condition 248 Ni-P plated film 1.07 5.49 Transcribed crack When the molding die of comparative Sample No. 248 was molded, the glass did not adhere to this die, but the plated layer began to crach after press-molded several times. After press-molding 100 times, the crack on the plated surface enlarged. The die did not stand any more use because the crack was transcribed on the lens, thereby deteriorating the quality of the lens. Furthermore, the die in this embodiment has characteristics superior to the dies shown in the first embodiment as shown in the following. As the cutting layer in the first embodiment (i.e., Example 1), an alloy film of Si-Zr, was formed using Pt-Ta alloy film as a protective layer. After press-molding this die 10,000 times, 30,000 times and 40,000 times, the condition of the press surfaces was observed with an optical microscope. At the same time, the surface roughness (RMS value, nm) of the press surfaces were measured, and the accuracy of the die was evaluated. The results are shown in Table 5. Results of Comparative Experiment Sample No. Type of die Surface roughness before pressing (RMS,nm) Surface condition after pressing 10,000 times (RMS,nm) 30.000 times (RMS,nm) 40,000 times (RMS,nm) 252 Si-Zr 1.02 1.08 1.94 Peeled In the Sample No. 252 the molding die did not have rough surface, and the films did not peel or crack even after press-molded 30,000 times repeatedly. This shows the superior characteristics compared to the conventional dies. However, the film peeled off from the base material when press-molded 40,000 times so that the process had to be stopped then. On the other hand, the dies in the Sample Nos. 266 to 269 of this embodiment did not crack even after being press-molded 50,000 times repeatedly. The surface condition remained almost the same. The surface roughness hardly changed. This shows that these dies can press-mold glass having a high melting point, such as SK-12. Accordingly, by press-molding glass by means of the dies for press-molding of this invention, it is possible to press-mold a large quantity of glass optical elements having high melting points and shapes which was difficult to attain by a grinding process. As a result, all the requirements which are necessary to directly press-mold the above-mentioned glass optical elements with high accuracy were met. It enabled press-molding a large quantity of the glass optical elements having high melting points and shapes which was impossible prior to this invention. Cemented carbide consisting mainly of WC was used as the base material of the die for press-molding in this embodiment. It goes without saying that any other material can be used to attain the same results that has heat resistance and sufficient strength to withstand the press-molding process of optical glass. However, it is preferable to use cemented carbide mainly consisting of WC, cermet mainly consisting of TiN or TiC, or WC sintered compact. As for the intermediate layer, Ni, SiC, TiN, and Ta 2 O 5 were used. It goes without saying that the same results can be obtained by using intermediate layers consisting of other metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide. As far as the protective layer is concerned, Pt-Ir was used in this embodiment, but the same results could be attained by using an alloy film of precious metal which includes at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W and Ta. Furthermore, this embodiment referred to the manufacturing process of a hollow-shaped die with 1 mm radius of curvature. Shapes which are difficult to attain with conventional grinding methods, such as dies for non-axisymmetric lenses or microprism arrays, can also be processed with this method.

Claims: A die for press-molding glass optical elements comprising: (a) a base material having heat resistance and sufficient strength to withstand press-molding of optical glass elements; (b) an alloy film on said base material to form a cutting layer; and (c) a surface protective layer made of an alloy film which comprises at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W, and Ta, characterized in that said alloy film forming the cuting layer comprises Si. A die as claimed in claim 1, wherein an intermediate layer comprises at least one film comprising a material selected from the group consisting of metal, carbide, nitride, and oxide is present between said base material and said cutting layer. A method of manufacturing a die for press-molding glass optical elements, comprising the steps of: (a) forming a base material having heat resistance and sufficient strength to press-mold glass optical elements into a shape similar to a desired shape; (b) forming a film comprising an alloy film by means of at least one method selected from the group consisting of a plating method, an evaporation method, a sputtering method, and an ion plating method on top of said base material to form a cutting layer; (c) cutting said cutting layer precisely to the desired shape; and (d) forming an alloy film containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Os, Ru, Re, W and Ta, characterized in that said alloy film forming the cutting layer comprises Si. A die as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein said alloy film comprising Si, contains 20 to 80 at % of one metal selected from the group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Cu, Ti, Zr, Nb, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Os, and Ir. Use of the die as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 for press-molding glass optical elements at a temperature of 650°C and higher.

Inventors: INOUE KENJI, KASHIWAGI YOSHINARI, KATAOKA HIDENAO, MORIMOTO SATORU, NAKAMURA SHOJI, UMETANI MAKOTO, INOUE, KENJI, KASHIWAGI, YOSHINARI                           D, KATAOKA, HIDENAO, MORIMOTO, SATORU, NAKAMURA,SHOJI, UMETANI, MAKOTO, Inoue, Kenji, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd, Kashiwagi, Yoshinari, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd, Kataoka, Hidenao, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd, Morimoto, Satoru, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd, Nakamura,Shoji, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd, Umetani, Makoto, Matsushita Elec Ind Co Ltd
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD
Application year: 1994
Main classification: C03B11
IPC codes: C23C14, B29C43, B32B15, C23C28, C03B11